My Dearest Dickard
by FrankandJoe3
Summary: Richard gets a letter from an old friend that brightens his day. Written for AmaraRae.  I suck at summaries


**To My Dearest Amara Rae,**

**You have probably reviewed all of my stories the most, but that isn't my (entire) cause to say that I totally (sister-like) luv ya. You've been supportive of me and you've helped me keep my chin up, so when you asked if I'd write you a one-shot, I was more than delighted! I wasn't sure what to really write though, so if this isn't a delicious slice of heaven, I'm really sorry… I tried though and I had to improvise. If you're reading this, thank you for everything and I really hope you like this!**

**With Lots of Love,**

**-F.J. **

**WARNING: OOC BRUCE. **

"Dude, she was totally checking you out!" Wally laughed, running the towel through his red hair roughly.

"She was not! She was just looking at me!" Richard claimed, his face pinkening.

Wally rolled his eyes on the other side of the computer screen.

"Yeah, she was looking at you with her," he brought his left eye close to the Skype camera and widened it, "with her bedroom eyes. She was undressing you in her mind!"

Richard couldn't help but smile.

"Wally, why would she be checking me out?" he asked, leaning back in his computer chair, folding his arms over his chest.

Wally looked his best friend up and down through what he could see on his laptop screen.

"Well, for one, you're totally sexy," Wally began, grinning stupidly.

Richard's face went red.

"KF, you're gay," he muttered.

Wally lazily shrugged. "What if I am? You would _love_ it!"

Richard scooted back in the computer chair, looking from his left to his right nervously. Wally laughed.

"I'm just kidding, I'm straight as my arm!" he held it out as straight as he could manage.

"Yeah, when it's bent. You're totally gay," Richard kidded.

Wally stuck out his tongue.

"Now I see why your parents named you Dick," he narrowed his green eyes.

Richard ran a hand through his black hair, pushing it back and smiling a smile that outshone any model.

"What can I say? When you're this good…"

Wally pressed his fist to the camera.

"If that was your face, you'd be bleeding," he told Richard.

Richard stared at the tan fist obscuring his vision of the red head.

"Nah, I'd just have your fist in my face. There's a difference."

Wally lowered his hand and flipped Richard off, smirking slightly and shaking his head.

"Only you, my dearest Rob."

Richard opened his mouth to crack an ugly joke when he heard footsteps.

"Gotta go," he said quickly, shutting off his Skype camera and opening up Facebook.

He was just in time. Just as the Facebook home page came up, the door opened.

"Hey Richard," he recognized Bruce's voice.

He spun around, a smile on his lips.

"What's up, dearest father of mine?"

Bruce made a familiar face and Richard's shoulders slumped.

"Got it, shutting up. **[1]**"

Bruce smiled and nodded. Then he held out a white envelope.

"This was in the mail for you, thought you'd like it."

Richard raised an eyebrow and grabbed the envelope suspiciously. _Richard Grayson_ was written on the front in a girlish scrawl on the front.

"Thanks," he said slowly, confusion in his voice as he turned the envelope over, inspecting it.

Bruce nodded. "Anytime."

He turned and walked to the door, opening it. Before he left though, he faced Richard again.

"By the way, tell Kid Flash I said hello."

Richard paled and his eyes widened. Bruce chuckled softly.

"You still have the camera on," he pointed out before closing the door behind him.

Richard faced the camera and saw indeed that it was on. He sighed.

"Dangit, so close," he frowned.

Then he turned his attention back to the envelope. It didn't seem to be bombed, so he tore open the flap and pulled out a tall white piece of notebook paper with the same feminine scrawl on it. Raising an eyebrow, his eyes started on the first two words and he felt extreme déjà vu.

**Dear Dickard** was what it started with.

Richard furrowed his eyebrows. Where did he know that name? Oh yeah! He smiled at the memory.

XxXxX

"_Richard, say hello to the new neighbor. She won't bite honey," his mother promised, pushing him forward. _

_Richard stared at his tennis shoes nervously. _

"_H-Hi," he said softly. _

_The six year old girl in front of him smiled. She had her dark brown hair up in short little pigtails and she wore a pink flowery dress with spaghetti straps and little roses circling the bottom edge with cute little pink sandals on her feet. _

"_Hey," she said energetically, immediately tackling Richard in a hug. _

_He tensed up and blushed slightly, returning the brief hug. Then the girl thrust out her hand, accidently hitting his chest. He jumped in surprise. He stared at the hand. _

"_You're s'posed ta shake it silly," she reminded him, giggling slightly. _

_He raised his hand and grabbed hers, only to nearly be thrown from his feet by the vigorous hand shake. _

"_My name's Amara. Who're you?" she had her hands clasped in front of her and she was rocking on her shoes back and forth innocently. _

_Richard hesitated, exchanging glances with his mom. She nodded and encouraged him with a soft smile. He turned back to Amara and smiled widely. _

"_My name is Dick!" he told her. _

_Amara cocked her head to the side. _

"_But… your momma called ya Richard… and ya say Dick?" _

_Richard shrugged. "I dunno…"_

_She shrugged too. "Well, Imma call you Dickard. You got a problem wit dat?"_

_Richard shook his head, grinning at the name. _

"_Hee, nice to meet you. I'm Dickard." _

XxXxX

Richard grinned.

"Boy, I haven't heard that name in forever," Dick muttered to himself, continuing to read.

**Dear Dickard, **

**I don't know if you remember me… we haven't talked in what, four years now? Ever since you moved, I haven't heard from you at all. **

Richard stopped reading a moment. He remembered that day.

XxXxX

_Tears streamed from Richard's warm blue eyes and he kept trying to run towards the ambulance. _

"_No!" he sobbed, trying to tear away from Amara's parents that held him back. _

"_Dick, please," Amara's dad said softly. "They're gone…"_

_Richard let his knees collapse, but he didn't stop fighting. He brought his hands to his face to muffle his sobs, at war with himself internally. _

"_Mommy… Dad…" he sobbed softly, his shoulders convulsing violently. _

_Even a warm embrace he soon felt didn't help. He didn't even remove his hands to see who it was. _

"_Dickard, why are you crying?" Amara's gentle voice asked. _

_Richard peeked through his fingers to make sure it was her before dropping his hands reluctantly. _

"_They're… they're… gone," he sobbed softly. _

"_They?" Amara repeated. _

"_My parents," he explained, his voice broken and frail. _

_Amara's eyes widened and her lips parted in a silent gasp. She quickly helped the ebony haired boy to his feet and pulled him close in a hug. _

"_I-I'm so sorry!" she cried quickly, even before the tears hit her shirt. _

_She held her hand to the back of his head, pulling him even closer and resting her chin momentarily on his shoulder. Then she turned back to her parents. _

"_If his parents are…" she coughed, "g-gone… what's going to happen to Dickard?"_

_Her parents exchanged depressed looks and didn't reply. That brought tears to Amara's eyes and she bit her lip hard. _

"_I'm sorry," she just kept repeating, trying to ward off her own tears. _

_She failed miserably, and before long, the two friends were sobbing their eyes out. Then, to make matters worse, a man came up beside them, standing there silently for a moment. _

"_Richard… it's time to go," he said, his voice as gravelly as it could get. _

_Richard let out a scream of anger and Amara looked up at the man through tear streaked eyes. _

"_Please don't take him," she begged. _

_The man shrugged and tried to grab Richard from her arms. Amara stepped back, pulling Richard with her. _

"_No! He's mine!" she cried defensively. _

_Her parents and the man didn't agree with her though, for her parents held her back as the man took Richard away. _

"_Dickard!" she screamed, struggling as hard as he could. _

_He looked up at her, his blue eyes full of sorrow. _

"_I'll miss you… good bye Amara," he mouthed, reaching out for her. _

_Amara brought her fist to her heart, tears falling faster from her eyes. She struggled from her parents and made it at least two feet before they grabbed her again. _

"_Richard!" she screamed, watching in horror as her best friend kept getting away. _

_He just waved miserably, his own tears freefalling. She stopped fighting and waved slowly._

"_I'll miss you Dickard," she mouthed at him, offering him a soft smile. _

_He returned the smile and then the smiles faded and the tears fell once more. _

XxXxX

Richard was surprised to find his eyes growing bleary from slight tears. He blinked though, and the bleariness faded. He kept reading.

**Anyway, I really missed you… So for the past four years, I've been searching and digging… You are one hard person to find Dickard, so I looked up the man that took you away. Mr. Bruce Wayne, Gotham City's millionaire. He's easy to find and then I saw an article in the newspaper that said he 'adopted' you, but I don't believe that because if I know you, you'd never drop your last name. You're too proud for that. **

Richard smiled at the memory of the second grade play. It ended up starring Lewis Grayson and William Clark. His eyes continued down the page.

**My folks are talking me up to Gotham City to the Circus that's coming to town. I know you're sensitive around the Circus, but I'd really like it if you showed up. It'd be nice to catch up after four years and see how we both turned out. With my luck, you're probably already married with four kids and a fifth on the way. (Just kidding) I bet life is going pretty well for you know, seeing how normal it should be without the Circus. I can't wait to hear your tales of boring and normal civilian life. You always boasted of how cool it would be. I hope I see you then… if not, oh well… **

**-Amara R. **

Richard grinned excitedly. He couldn't wait to tell her- wait, he couldn't tell her how uncivillian his life was. That would go against his Batman's rules. But he knew he could go to the circus. He had already planned to go with KF, so maybe they could just 'accidently' sit next to Amara when they got there. With a smile, he put the letter back in the envelope and slid it in his computer desk beneath one of his big science books to assure Alfred didn't get it. Alfred hated science.

Then, a smile still plastered on his lips, Richard went back to Skype. Wally was still on.

"Hey dude," Wally greeted his bestie, a smile clear on his lips.

Richard returned the cheesy smile.

"Hey; where were we?"

Wally closed his eyes for a moment. "Uh, I believe you were about to insult me?"

Richard grinned.

"Oh yeah! Thanks for reminding me…"

**[1] That line, my computer said 6.9. I'm still giggling… Ah, pervertedness! **

**So, my dearest Amara, did you like it? I tried as hard as I could and this is probably my second longest one shot written, the longest being Bereft. I really hope this was worth the brief wait… **

**-F.J. III**


End file.
